1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an interior illumination lamp mounted, for example, on a door, a ceiling or others of an automobile.
2. Related Art
There has been disclosed one example of conventional interior illumination lamps as shown in FIG. 8 (see, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 2000-1141).
This interior illumination lamp is mounted, for example, on a back door of a station wagon, and is used in this condition, and by changing a direction of illumination, the lamp can illuminate a luggage room (provided at a rear portion of the station wagon) and a zone beneath the opened back door.
As shown in FIG. 8, this interior illumination lamp 100 includes a lamp housing 102 mounted on a trim 101 forming a wall surface of the back door, and a round opening 103 is formed in a front side of this lamp housing 102. A lamp support portion 104, having a generally-spherical inner surface, is provided rearwardly of (at the right side in FIG. 8) the opening 103, and a lamp body 105 of a partially spherical shape is provided inside the lamp support portion 104 so as to rotate through an angle of 360 degrees in a predetermined range. A bulb 106 is mounted within the lamp body 105, and a reflecting plate 108 for reflecting light (emitted rearwardly from the bulb 106) forwardly is provided at the rear side (the right side in FIG. 8) of the bulb 106. A lens portion 107 is provided at a front side (the left side in FIG. 8) of the lamp body, and projects from the opening 103 in the lamp housing 102. A space S is formed between the lens portion 107 and an edge of the opening 103, and the amount of rotation of the lamp body 105 is limited.
Generally, the interior illumination lamp 100 for a rear seat is mostly mounted just above the rear seat. Therefore, when the passenger, sitting on the rear seat, rotates or turns the lamp body 105 forwardly in order to use the interior illumination lamp 100, the bulb 106, the reflecting plate 108, the lens portion 107, etc., are directed forwardly, and therefore in some cases, part of the lens portion 7 or the vicinity of the lens portion 107 shines. There is encountered a problem that this light comes into the driver's sight via a room mirror 109, and affects the driving operation.